Month: January 2015

Were the terrorists who murderously attacked Charlie Hebdo stoking French-Muslim anger as the “French army officers called the Organisation de l’armée secrète (O.A.S.) in favor of French rule in Algeria killed innocent Muslims in a last-ditch effort—a mutiny of sorts—to thwart independence”? The History of French-Muslim Violence Began in the Streets of Algeria (Time) Steven Emerson…

From the ninth century al-Jahiz and the 13th century Mullah Nasreddin to today’s Azhar Usman (of the “Axis of Evil” Comedy tour fame),  Muslim satirists have an honorable history, but they target themselves and the powerful, not the helpless, the oppressed, or the sacred symbols of minorities … Satire in the Muslim World: A Centuries-Long Tradition…

The policeman “killed by hooded gunmen on the streets of Paris while he begged for his life, is [a Muslim] originally from Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb outside of Paris. He had been working for the French police for eight years”: Family of Policeman Killed in Paris Shooting Request Muslim Burial (AlArabiya) “How satire is handled is a…

“The Muslim Council of France, and of Britain, have denounced today’s attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo. As they know, one of the aims of the jihadis is to try to speak for Islam – but they have been joined in their condemnation by hundreds of Muslims on Twitter” … Not in Our Name…

Free speech requires readers be allowed to judge Houellebecq’s claim that although his novel uses “scare tactics … it’s not clear what we are meant to be afraid of, [white far-right] nativists or Muslims;” but then that same freedom should be extended  Roger Garaudy’s The Founding Myths of Israel: France Most Notorious And Internationally Best-Known Novelist Michel…

Hanan Ashrawi calls Israel’s attempts to punish Palestinians for joining the ICC “highway robbery. Not only is this illegal, they are adding money theft to land theft. The revenues belong to the Palestinian people, they go to pay salaries and support our economy. Israel has no business deciding to steal our funds”: Israel Withholds Funds,…

Defense lawyers … hoped for speedy trial given a changing political climate between Egypt and [Al-Jazeera’s home base] Qatar … which recently promised to ease tensions in the greater Middle East by dropping its support for Islamist groups throughout the region, like Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood”: Egyptian Court Orders Retrial for Al-Jazeera Journalists (Christian Science…